


beautiful people beautiful problems

by icepools



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, F/F, Long-Distance Relationship, el misses her s/o a lot, this do be kinda self indulgent doe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-30
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:14:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22298392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icepools/pseuds/icepools
Summary: Because for a very large amount of El’s life, there was Max. They were there to walk to school, or drive once they were old enough. They were there to sneak into the Byers house at night and pretend they didn’t wake Will with the amount of noise they made, slipping into El’s bed easily. Like they belonged there.And, shit, they did, and they do, and Max belongs here with El but they’re not here.or: el misses their hands. and then she misses more.
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper/Maxine "Max" Mayfield
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28





	beautiful people beautiful problems

**Author's Note:**

> this one is for navi :)

El misses them.

There’s no way to sugarcoat it; she _misses_ them. Misses their hands and their voice and their smile and their embraces and—

_Them._

El goes to school in Michigan. She’s majoring in Psychology, mostly because the class was fun when she and Dustin took it as a joke in eleventh grade. She—likes learning about the mind. About how it works. That sort of thing just _works_ with her.

It does not work with Max, hence why they’re in fucking _California_ majoring in fucking _Environmental Studies._

And they had to drag Will over there with them, because of _course_ he got into some great school for art there.

It leaves El with Micah and Lucas (Dustin is all the way back in Hawkins; El feels a little bad, but not really), which isn’t _bad,_ they’re two of her best friends in the world.

But they’re not her brother ( _step,_ but they decided a while ago that step was a stupid way to word it) and they’re _certainly_ not her girlfriend.

They’ve managed to keep in touch, even if it’s just through Google Hangouts sometimes, during especially busy periods. And they’ve managed to _stay together._

That was a fear Max had, near the start. The first phone call they were sobbing into the speaker, going on about how _most long-distance couples don’t last, you know?_ and _what if some other redheaded bitch comes in and steals my thunder?_

_That_ was a day.

It’s easier now.

They call and text and Google Hangout and sometimes they talk through _Animal Crossing_ if it gets really tough to contact each other. 

(The _Animal Crossing_ one is El’s favourite next to calling, because Max has a very cute villager and sometimes she can imagine it’s actually _them._ )

Sometimes, though.

Sometimes it’s harder.

Because for a very large amount of El’s life, there was Max. They were there to walk to school, or drive once they were old enough. They were there to sneak into the Byers house at night and pretend they didn’t wake Will with the amount of noise they made, slipping into El’s bed easily. Like they belonged there.

And, shit, they did, and they do, and Max belongs here with El but they’re _not_ here.

The calls help, though. Plus, it’s still early in the evening, so if she’s lucky then Max will—

“ _Hello?_ ”

El breathes a sigh of relief. She doesn’t even know what she’s relieved _by,_ but just hearing Max’s voice lifts all the weights from her shoulders.

“Hi,” she breathes out. When she realizes how softly she’s talking, she clears her throat and fixes her volume. “It’s me.”

Max laughs on the other end of the phone, “ _I know, El. You know your name comes up when you call me, right?_ ”

“Might’ve slipped my mind.”

" _Dumbass._ ” Max says. El knows they’re smiling, the cute little giddy one they do whenever they’re talking with El and the _banter_ starts, the silly comebacks they throw at each other. Usually they’re holding hands.

“I miss your hands.” El says.

Max’s laugh comes from the phone again. “ _Bit of a weird thought, there,_ ”

“Well, I do,” El huffs. Her body curls into itself subconsciously thinking about Max’s hands, and, god, they’re so—

“Soft. Your hands are always so soft. And they’re—they’re pretty. How the fuck can someone have pretty hands?”

El can tell by their voice as the conversation continues that Max is _happy._ When Max is happy, their words just— _flow._ The filter that they usually have disappears, and they’re just talking and joking and laughing a _lot_ ( _thank you, God_ ) and just knowing that gives El the same feeling.

“How’s Will?” she asks, after they’ve discussed how much they miss _Dustin,_ of all people. 

(El supposes that, when you’ve been away from the people you love for so long, it’s easy to miss anyone. Sometimes she even finds herself missing _Erica._ )

“ _Good. Misses you, I think. He doesn’t shut up about missing_ Micah, _though, holy fuck,_ ”

El can’t help the grin that spreads across her face. Will and Mike are so close it’s sometimes annoying. “He really misses his best friend than his own sister? You know what that is,”

“ _Mike’s a lesbian, too, El. You can’t use the lesbophobia card on this one._ ”

El rolls her eyes on her end, and she knows Max is doing the same on theirs.

Then comes the silence.

Max goes quiet and all El can hear is their breathing, and Lorde playing just outside of their room. (Will’s still in, maybe she’ll call him with Micah later on.)

“ _I miss you,_ ” Max says softly, and it surprises El. Usually it’s her initiating the inevitable _you’re my partner and I love you and I miss you please come home_ conversation. Never Max.

“Are you okay?” is the first thing El asks, and she quickly answers her question herself. _No, not really._ “I—miss you too.”

  
There’s a bit of shuffling from Max’s end of the call. Then, “ _It’s hard, you know. It feels so empty. Sometimes I have Will sleep in my room on our air mattress just so there’s_ someone. _Why’d you have to do psych in fucking_ Michigan?”

Now that’s a question El’s heard before.

When she first told Max she’d gotten in, there was a rush of excitement ( _Oh my god, she’s a genius, everyone! Look at this gorgeous little fucker, she’s going to Michigan!_ ) followed immediately by the crushing realization that Max was _not_ going to Michigan. ( _She’s going to Michigan. And I’m—I’m not. Jesus fuck, you have to go to Michigan and I’m going to California, oh, fuck_ —)

“You can’t really talk. Living it up in California with cool art major Will Byers? I’m stuck in shitty Ann Arbor with two English majors with very different dreams. Do you know how many times Micah’s called Lucas’ assignments boring? If I had a dollar for every time she asked where the wizards were, I could probably fly over there right now.”

Max sighs quietly. El knows why. They’ve talked about visiting each other countless times. It always manages to come up during their talks (especially in _Animal Crossing_ ), and is immediately followed by realizing they have no money.

Joyce has offered to pay more than once, but El wouldn’t feel good about just taking money from her like that. (No matter how much she’d like to.)

There’s a loud banging sound on Max’s end of the phone that makes El jump. She assumes it’s Will dropping his huge box of art supplies that he carries everywhere, but then she hears Max groan and curse under their breath.

“You okay?”

“ _Yeah,_ ” They don’t sound okay, “ _Hit my head._ ”

“How the fuck did you hit your head?” El can’t hold back the little laugh that escapes her. She doesn’t feel guilty, especially after remembering when Max laughed at her after she broke her fucking _arm_ back in twelfth grade. 

“ _Sat up quickly. Hit my head on the headboard. Anyways, I’ve had an epiphany._ ”

“Oh, do tell,”

“ _So. Game plan. I force Will to give me money from his job in exchange for a ride to school. I also get a job. Then when I get the money, I fly over. And guess what I do then?_ ”

El struggles to get the words out through the massive grin on her face. “I can’t. Tell me?”

" _I hold your hand. And you can tell me how soft and pretty my hands are right in front of me._ ”

They’ve done this before, discussed how they’re going to get the money. But schoolwork piles up once again and they just don’t have the _time_ for jobs.

“This is, like, the third time you’ve said this to me this year. It gonna be any different?” El asks them. Max hums a little, then huffs.

“ _I think so._ ”

“Yeah?”

“ _Yeah._ ”

El’s next question is how long this game plan of theirs will take. Max doesn’t know. They don’t say so, but El can tell from the way they say, “ _A month. I think. Probably._ ”

“Okay then,” she exclaims, voice determined despite the fact that she’s not doing any of the work, “I’ll see you in a month.”

“ _Better believe it._ ”

El does not believe it, and it will not happen, but it’s enough to keep her going another day.


End file.
